European Nations Unite to Agitate Against Trump’s Abortion Policy

European nations are leading a campaign to challenge and condemn the U.S. President’s policy on abortion, fundraising to promote the practice around the world as American support is withdrawn.

Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Finland have joined the Netherlands-led initiative ‘She Decides’, as well as non-European nations Canada and Cape Verde, Reuters reports.

They will meet in Brussels, Belgium, next month, and intend to directly challenge President Donald J. Trump who has promised to deny funding to organisations that supply information on and promote abortion around the world.

The Dutch government announced the ‘She Decides’ initiative at the end of January, pledging €10 million (£8.51 million) to the international fund.

“The reinstatement of the so-called Mexico City Policy prohibits U.S. government funding of organizations that provide access to (information about) abortions…”, the She Decides website explains. “We cannot let that happen. Women and girls should have the right to make their own choices. They should have access to adequate health care.”

President Donald Trump shows off a signed executive order to reinstitute the Mexico City Policy, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Mexico City Policy, a ban on any recipient of U.S. assistance from performing or promoting abortions abroad with money they receive from non-U.S. sources, has for decades been used by incoming presidents to signal their positions on this issue.

It was created under President Ronald Reagan in 1984, lifted by Barack Obama in 2009, and was reinstated by President Trump at a ceremony in the White House on his fourth day in office.

Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for International Development, Isabella Lövin, announced the meeting in Brussels, the European Union (EU) capital, Thursday.

“If you know that this is a very bad road to go down if you want to save women’s lives, if you want women and families to have power over their own lives and that girls should be able to go to school and not get pregnant too early, then it is important that we stand up for the right to planned, safe and legal abortions. But also that we show how much money we are prepared to put up,” Ms. Lövin told Swedish news agency TT.